The present invention is directed, in general, to a conventional war device and, more specifically, to a combination warren portal identification and tunnel resident disgorger system.
For many centuries one of the most difficult tasks that an army must face is in ferreting out enemy soldiers who are holed up in caves, tunnels and the like. During the latter months of World War II, American soldiers and Marines, supported by naval bombardment, assaulted numerous Pacific islands that were held by the Japanese Army. In some cases, the islands en route to Japan were bypassed rather than expend manpower and materiel to extract or kill Japanese soldiers who were firmly entrenched in the caves of the islands. However, because of its size and location, the island of Okinawa Jima could not be bypassed, but must be taken in bitter face to face combat with the entrenched enemy. The tools of the time available to soldiers for close in combat of this type were typically limited to small arms, grenades and flame throwers. Naval bombardment could only do so much to soften up these emplacements. Each cave, pill box or other emplacement had to be individually secured by ground troops in close in fighting. Small arms, grenades and flame throwers have a relatively small area of effect when used to assault a cave. As a result, casualties were high, but the price was paid. Soldiers so entrenched can hold out for years. As late as 1974, Hiroo Onoda, a former World War II Japanese Imperial Army officer, finally responded to his former commanding officer""s entreaty and came out of hiding, having been holed up on Lubang Island of the Philippines.
Again during the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong, as well as enemy saboteurs, used natural or seemingly natural, caves and tunnels to hide men, communications headquarters, materiel, etc. To counter this threat, the US Army used tunnel rats, i.e., soldiers specially trained to crawl single file into these lairs and confront the enemy one-to-one under extremely dangerous circumstances. Despite the many long years of fighting the Vietnam War, no system was ever developed that was able to successfully identify the myriad of openings that the Viet Cong had developed for their tunnel system. Not until normalization of relations with the reunited Vietnam was any idea of the extent of the South Vietnam tunnel system ever truly understood.
Today, the United States and its allies are facing a terrorist enemy who hides in a distant foreign country with formidable mountainous terrain involving numerous caves, many of which are interconnected forming a warren. The enemy, therefore, has the potential advantage of being able to wait out military assaults by hiding deep within a mountain, safe from virtually all conventional weapons. Very expensive bunker buster bombs may have some effect on closing some of these caves, however the number of caves and alternative exits makes this impractical on a large scale. Thus, the ability of enemy soldiers to use natural or man-made warrens enables them to significantly delay completion of a military operation and endangers soldiers and the populace at large.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a highly efficient, air transportable system that: (a) enables identification of the numerous portals of a cave warren so that the portals can be individually closed and (b) physically and psychologically encourages enemy residents in the caves to seek escape from the warren where they can then be captured or eliminated.
To address the above-discussed deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides a WARren Portal IDentification and tunnel resident disgorger System (WARPIDS), comprising: a jet engine, a marker medium and a base.
In a preferred embodiment, the jet engine is configured to create an engine exhaust that is aimable into a first portal of a warren, perhaps one having a plurality of interconnecting tunnels. The engine exhaust creates an overpressure within the warren such that the engine exhaust travels through at least some of the warren and escapes from a second tunnel portal. The marker medium is coupleable to, and configured to flow with, the engine exhaust from the first tunnel portal and through the second tunnel portal thereby marking the second tunnel portal. The base, coupled to and supporting the jet engine, is configured to be transported and located proximate the first tunnel portal by a conventional aircraft.
In one embodiment, the WARPIDS further comprises a ground anchor system coupled to the base and configured to restrain the base and the jet engine when the jet engine is operated at a maximum power. In another embodiment, the marker medium is an oil or smoke agent. The marker medium, in another embodiment, further comprises an anti-personnel chemical agent.
In another embodiment, the jet engine further comprises a pyrotechnic device coupleable to the jet engine and configured to start the jet engine. In yet another embodiment, the WARPIDS further comprises a starter engine startable from a battery and coupleable to the jet engine, wherein the starter engine is configured to start the jet engine.
In one embodiment, the WARPIDS further comprises an expendables pallet configured to retain and supply expendables to the jet engine and wherein the expendables comprise a quantity of jet fuel and the marker medium. In a further aspect, the expendables pallet further comprises quick connects coupleable to the jet engine and configured to convey the expendables to the jet engine. In another embodiment, the conventional aircraft is a helicopter.
In one embodiment, the WARPIDS further comprises a chute coupleable to the engine exhaust and configured to dispense a plurality of projectiles into engine exhaust and thence into the warren. In yet another embodiment, the WARPIDS further comprises an acoustic amplifier coupleable to the engine exhaust and configured to cause an audible sound of high intensity in the warren.
The foregoing has outlined, rather broadly, preferred and alternative features of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they can readily use the disclosed conception and specific embodiment as a basis for designing or modifying other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form.